What are you looking for in a job?

Primarily only one thing: I want to be able to get up almost every morning and look forward to going to work. I want to really enjoy what I'm doing, and get a lot of satisfaction out of it. (Obviously I want my job to be able to support me, as well -- but fortunately for me, almost any job that I'm really qualified for will do that.) For me, being able to consistently enjoy work depends on several factors, including:

Working on an intellectually challenging project.

Having co-workers who are both good to work with, and fun to be around all day.

Derivation of satisfaction from the completion of each project, knowing that I did a good job and helped to put out a high-quality product that will be used, and will make the world a better place.

I have had good luck so far, and have been very satisfied with all of the jobs that I have had in most regards. I am intrigued by almost any technical challenge of sufficient difficulty, so the first qualification is not that hard to meet. (I especially enjoy developing something new, and hopefully superior or unique.) I have been fairly lucky in the co-worker department: all the people that I have worked with have been both highly competent and easy to get along with (but then, I can get along with almost anybody, so there may not be so much luck there). Though competent and agreeable, relatively few have been very much fun, however, so I am definitely looking to improve on this in my next job. Finding a group of people that share my view that the most fun requires hard thought would be a big plus. Satisfaction in putting out a useful product has been intermittent; I have not always thought the work I was doing was really very useful, or would help to make anybody happier. This is definitely something that I am focussing on in my current job search. Lastly, I want to be allowed to do a good job. Being a bit of a perfectionist, I get frustrated and unhappy when circumstances prevent me from putting out a well-made product. (Ask me about meeting aggressive schedules.)